Moving to the UK from Somalia: Guide

Visiting: a Visitor Visa, Not an Electronic Travel Authorisation

Somalia is on the Home Office visa national list, so Somali citizens need a Standard Visitor visa for a short trip. The £20 electronic travel authorisation is for people who are not visa nationals, and it is not an option on a Somali passport. A 6-month Standard Visitor visa costs £135, and longer-validity visitor visas cost £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years. A decision usually takes 3 weeks.

GOV.UK's find a visa application centre list does not include Somalia, so fingerprints and a photograph have to be given at a centre in another country. GOV.UK says you must apply for the visa before you can make an appointment.

Refugee Family Reunion Has Closed

This is the change most likely to catch people out. Refugee family reunion, the free route by which a partner or child could join someone in the UK with refugee status or humanitarian protection, stopped taking new applications at 3pm on 4 September 2025. GOV.UK now says plainly: "Your partner or child cannot apply to join you in the UK through family reunion. Applications are no longer being accepted." Applications made before that time are still being decided, and GOV.UK says those decisions are expected within 12 months.

Family members outside the UK now have to apply for a family visa instead, which carries a fee of £2,064 a person from outside the UK, an income requirement on the UK-based sponsor of £29,000 a year, an English requirement, and a decision time of 12 weeks. See the GOV.UK family reunion page.

Asylum

Asylum cannot be applied for from outside the UK. GOV.UK's asylum page says a claim is made in the UK, at the border on arrival or afterwards from inside the country, by someone who cannot return home because of a fear of persecution.

For claims made on or after 2 March 2026, a grant of refugee permission to stay lasts 30 months. Settlement can be applied for after 5 years with protection status.

Visa Routes for Somali Citizens

• Family visa. For joining a partner who is a British citizen or has settlement, or who has protection status. The sponsoring partner normally needs an income of at least £29,000 a year. The fee is £2,064 from outside the UK and a decision usually takes 12 weeks. See the spouse visa guide.
• Skilled Worker visa. Requires a licensed sponsor, a job at degree level (level 6 of the regulated qualifications framework) for a new application, and a salary of at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the job, whichever is higher. Some applicants qualify at the lower £33,400 threshold. A job on the Immigration Salary List uses that lower threshold and a lower fee, but the full going rate for the job still applies. See the salary threshold guide.
• Student visa. £558, and a decision usually takes 3 weeks from outside the UK. You must show course fees plus £1,529 a month in London or £1,171 a month outside London, for up to 9 months. See the student visa guide.

Somalia is not a Commonwealth country and is not on the Youth Mobility Scheme list, so neither the UK Ancestry route nor the Youth Mobility Scheme is open on a Somali passport.

Document Requirements

• Travel document. A visa application normally needs a valid passport or other travel document. Someone already in the UK with protection status travels on a Home Office travel document, not a national passport.
• Tuberculosis test. Somalia is on the list of countries where a test is needed for a stay of 6 months or more, but the GOV.UK list marks it "get tested in another country": there is no approved clinic in Somalia. The test must be taken at a Home Office approved clinic elsewhere, and a test at any other clinic will not be accepted. The certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of the x-ray, and GOV.UK publishes no price because each clinic sets its own fee. The GOV.UK tuberculosis test page lists the countries that do have approved clinics.
• English language test. Needed for most work, study and family routes: Somalia is not on the majority English-speaking list. It is not needed to claim asylum, and GOV.UK's list of what you must provide for settlement with protection status does not include it.
• Police certificate. Not needed for every route. The Home Office asks for one for Skilled Worker and Temporary Worker applications in certain jobs, mostly in healthcare, education, therapy and social services, and for some other routes. The GOV.UK criminal records checks guidance sets out, country by country, where a certificate comes from and what to do where one cannot be obtained.

What It Costs

UK visa fees are set in pounds sterling and are the same wherever you apply from.

• Standard Visitor visa: £135 for 6 months
• Family visa as a partner: £2,064 from outside the UK, £1,407 inside
• Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for more than 3 years
• Student visa: £558
• Healthcare surcharge: £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants and under-18s
• Settlement with protection status: no fee, and no fee for anyone included in your application
• Settlement on other routes: £3,226 for each person
• British citizenship: £1,709 to apply plus a £130 ceremony fee, £1,839 in total
• English test and tuberculosis test: GOV.UK publishes no price for either. Test providers and approved clinics set their own fees.

See our UK visa fees guide.

What the Healthcare Surcharge Buys

Paying the immigration health surcharge does not make the National Health Service free. It puts you on the same footing as a UK resident, so you then pay what a resident pays. In England that means £9.90 for each prescription item and dental charges of £27.90, £76.60 or £332.10 depending on the treatment. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. People applying for asylum, and settlement with protection status, do not pay the surcharge at all.

After Arrival

• Set up or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account and check your online immigration status. There is no card to collect: biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024. To prove your status to an employer or a landlord you generate a share code, which lasts 90 days
• Apply for a National Insurance number
• Register with a GP
• Open a UK bank account
• Find local community organisations

Path to Settlement

With protection status you can apply for settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, after 5 years in the UK. GOV.UK says there is no fee for you or for anyone included in your application, and that a decision comes within 6 months. The super priority service is not available on this route, and you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before the decision, or the application is withdrawn. Settlement can be lost by travelling back to the country you sought asylum from, or by staying outside the UK for more than 2 years.

On a work or family visa instead, settlement comes after 5 years, costs £3,226 for each person, and needs the Life in the UK test and English at B1. On either path, after 12 months with settlement you can apply for British citizenship for £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee.

Somalia's provisional constitution allows dual citizenship. That is a question for the Somali authorities, not the Home Office.

Next Steps

For asylum claims, see the GOV.UK asylum page. For settlement with protection status, see the GOV.UK settlement page.

Questions and answers